Romano talks electricity pricing

Ross Romano, candidate for the Ontario PC party, speaks during a campaign event last week at the F.J. Davey Home. Kenneth Armstrong/SooTodayt

NEWS RELEASE

ROSS ROMANO
CANDIDATE, ONTARIO PC

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The Liberal Green Energy Act, which was supported by the NDP, is the reason for the Hydro mess; it’s the reason families must choose between food and power.

Before the Green Energy Act Ontario was producing more power than we needed. There was a comfortable cushion of supply in the system. Under the Green Energy Act, the Liberals, backed by the NDP, signed thousands of contracts to produce additional power.

Under those very generous and foolish agreements, Ontario now must pay these suppliers of power for even more power that Ontario can’t use. Ontario pays to produce so much extra power that we can keep the lights on in the entire province of Nova Scotia.

One leaked contract proves the Liberals signed a $7 billion contract with Samsung to produce this excess power. The price Ontario agreed to pay for the power was 40 times the market rate. The Liberals and the NDP forced Ontario families to pay to produce power that was not needed and to pay 400% more than the market price.

All of this excess power that we don’t use is sold to the United States and even Quebec at prices that are a tiny fraction of what it costs Ontario to produce it. Our rates spiked to cover the loss on the extra power that is sold outside of Ontario.

The Liberals have made cuts to health care workers and educators but they happily pay the huge salaries and perks to the managers and executives that run our collapsing power system for the benefit of our American neighbours.

“There has to be a change to the way we produce and manage our power,” says Romano and I will fight for those changes.”

Romano explains, “There are tangible solutions that will immediately stop the bleeding”:

A complete review and reduction of the exorbitant pay packages and perks of the hydro elite. I will fight until savings are passed on to hydro consumers. No CEO of a hydro company should be paid $4.7 million as the CEO of Hydro One earns, while families are living in the dark and the cold;

The Liberal power contracts have never been made public. I will fight for a complete and public review of these high-priced agreements. And every one of them that can be cancelled, will be cancelled and I will fight to cancel the Green Energy Act;

The government’s own financial watch dog just confirmed that immediately after the 2018 election, your hydro rates will skyrocket more than ever before under the Liberals misguided Fair Energy Plan.

The NDP suggests they are going to buy back Hydro One. Not only is this impossible, but if such a fairy- tale idea were to become a reality, it would have to be paid for with either a huge tax increase or even higher hydro rates because Kathleen Wynne has already spent all the money from the Hydro One sale.

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